Technology

Extensions, Add-Ons and Apps, Oh My! How to Utilize Google in Your Classroom. Google Apps for Education has totally transformed the way we teach and communicate inside and outside of the classroom. Through tools like Google Drive, Google Hangouts, Google Earth andBlogger, we can create authentic learning experiences for our students more than ever by promoting collaboration and helping them access their work anywhere and anytime.

Teachers can utilize all of Google’s resources using Google Classroom, a simple management tool that gives teachers the ability to stay organized, assign projects and give feedback within the platform. Google Chrome also has a library of special tools you can access through the browser called Apps, Extensions and Add-ons that can make your life in the classroom easier. Plus, when you use Chrome, all of the apps, extensions and web history are stored in the cloud, so wherever you login, they are literally at your fingertips. Here are a few of the best additional Google tools for educators that help make teaching easy! Extensions Add-Ons Apps.

Techshops. Tech to Enhance Learning. Hot Potatoes Home Page. Zamzar - Free online file conversion. S Language Teaching Clipart Library. Get Started with Prezi. Ortesolwiki. Elevate Product Overview. Help Struggling Readers Reach New Heights Helping struggling readers and English Language Learners learn to read is extremely important, but also very challenging. Because these students have always struggled – they often believe they always will. These students don’t enjoy the classroom and either act out or avoid it altogether. Research-Based Reading Instruction for Struggling Readers Aside from misbehavior and absenteeism, these students are difficult to teach because they typically have a processing or language-based issue, making reading and language tasks extremely difficult – the very reason reading is a challenge for them to begin with.

Research has found that struggling readers and ESL students have the most success learning to read when taught with instruction that is explicit, systematic, and multi-sensory in nature. Reading Horizons Elevate leverages the power of this research-based approach in a way that is practical for teachers to teach and simple for students to learn.
Interesting Search Engines. Block Posters. Huffduffer. Net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf. Google+ For Educators. 20 tips and resources for using learning technology in higher education | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional. Allison Littlejohn, director of the Caledonian Academy, Glasgow Caledonian University Blended learning should transform learning, not just replicate teaching: Companies want graduates who can source, filter and use existing knowledge to create new knowledge, and the university is key to equipping students with these skills.

Yet we seldom see technology tools being used in radically new ways in HE. They are usually used to replicate lectures - think of websites or podcasts - rather than enabling students to learn in new ways. Massive Open Online Course is one example of transformational learning. Learn from industry: There are lots of examples of collaborative and collective learning in industry. Other useful examples: • iSpot, UK Open University - where students, experts and members of the public share ideas on botany Ben Scoble, learning development specialist, Staffordshire University Experiment with Screencast: Many lecturers I have worked with have found this an amazing tool. Resources:
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Weavly: Create Mashup Videos With Ease!

I stumbled across Weavly the other day and was astonished by the simplicity and creativity it allowed. It is fun, fast, and requires no downloading or uploading of files. Plus, the interface is simple and user-friendly, as you can see from the screenshot below: Best of all – it’s very easy to use! Just search for videos, sounds and animated GIFs directly through Weavly. Weavly will allow you to pull content from YouTube, Vine, Tumblr, SoundCloud, LoopCam or Imgur, which provides a large database of content. Once you find a video or audio file you like, you can drag-and-drop it into the timeline and adjust the length of the clip.

There are a couple of different options for publishing the video. Weavly would be a great creativity tool for students, who could practice editing video and audio to create their own masterpieces. Happy remixing, y’all! Like this: Like Loading...
A teacher’s complete guide to using Google Voice to collect classwork and homework. This entry will guide you through the process of setting up and using a Google Voice account for the purpose of collecting spoken homework, such as for a language class. After reading this guide, you will be ready to configure your Google Voice account and collect your first round of homework. The focus of this entry is not to give an exhaustive list of all the contexts and ways in which Google Voice can be used in education, however! Use your creativity and share your ideas in the comments. Google Voice is a completely free service which gives you a local telephone number with voicemail service.

Students can call your Google Voice number from their own phones, be directly connected to voicemail, and record messages up to three minutes long. You can then listen to their recordings on any computer and even e-mail your students their audio files with your feedback. To create an account: Go to into a Google account. To set up your outgoing voicemail message:
Cedu [licensed for non-commercial use only] / ConnectEd Technology ToolKit. How to Do 11 Techy Things In Your Classroom. Managing a Moodle course. 50 Popular iPad Apps For Struggling Readers & Writers.

Whether you’re the parent of a child with a reading disability or an educator that works with learning disabled students on a daily basis, you’re undoubtedly always looking for new tools to help these bright young kids meet their potential and work through their disability. While there are numerous technologies out there that can help, perhaps one of the richest is the iPad, which offers dozens of applications designed to meet the needs of learning disabled kids and beginning readers alike. Here, we highlight just a few of the amazing apps out there that can help students with a reading disability improve their skills not only in reading, writing, and spelling, but also get a boost in confidence and learn to see school as a fun, engaging activity, not a struggle.